A Messenger of Synthesis in Art - "The Messenger, 1925"

Almost 100 years ago, On 17th January, in the Jubilee year (1925) of the Theosophical Society, Nicholas Roerich came to Adyar.

A great Russian following, fifty years after, in the footsteps of a greater Russian, whom he also worshipped as a fearless apostle, a messenger from the Inner World of Light, known to us as H. P. Blavatsky.

Roerich left the Old World to take his message to the New and from America continued his pilgrimage—Eastward—to the goal of his dreams and the shrine of his hopes. India! what has that name meant for him! By his work you will know.

In his hands he bears a gift and a torch. The gift is a painting in tempera, “The Messenger,” the work of his own hands, the creation of his own genius, the testimony of his faith, the witness of his love, the earnest of his dedication to the Great Cause and its Greatest Servants. The Torch is the torch of Beauty.

Roerich, in one beautiful and dignified sentence made his presentation:

“In this Home of Light, let me present this picture of ‘The Messenger', dedicated to Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, as the nucleus of a future Blavatsky Museum, whose motto shall be — Beauty is the Garment of Truth.”

Roerich also said:

"To my mind, East and West are only conventional understandings; these divisions are not important. If we are still to speak of unification, the first condition is through Art. Through Beauty we shall reach a true understanding of religion and discover the easiest way of solving the complicated social problems. Where Beauty is manifested, there complications disappear.

In the West we have civilisation. In the East there is culture. First comes civilisation, then culture. To my mind, they are only steps.

We know that Art is always prophetical of the next human movement. If we already think of synthesis in Art, it means that the synthesis of Humanity is coming. To attain synthesis, the first condition is to avoid all prejudice. Only by the open door and the open eye can this be brought about. The whole world is our body. Before we can use it, we must open the eye and the door.

Art belongs to the whole people. It is not a question of poor people and wealthy people. It is essentially a question of feeling. One man might possess a big collection, another a fragment. The essential value of beauty is the same.

With sincere and open eyes distinguish the natural treasures of the country. Consider the past as the window of the future. Keen most beautiful traditions and combine them with splendid Nature. Art is the expression of real spirituality. If spirituality is high the expression will be fine."

---- Paraphrased from the article of April 1925, The Theosophist.

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